World Series of Poker bracelet auctioned off Ebay
Friday, 05, Mar 2010 12:00
For years now people all over the world have turned to popular auction site Ebay for everything from low cost computers to hard to find collectibles. Recently, a truly one of a kind item was sold on Ebay and it has stirred a lot of publicity. World Series of Poker bracelet holder and professional poker player T.J. Clouter's 2005 WSOP bracelet was recently auctioned off by Plano Pawn Shop on Ebay.
Last week, word began to spread around the poker community about the bracelet. While there are many tournaments and even online poker sites that award bracelets to their champions, none are as prestigious as a World Series of Poker bracelet. A WSOP bracelet recognizes a player as a true champion and is the goal of every poker player. Cloutier is the winner of six WSOP bracelet, with his most recent win in 2005 in the $5,000 buy-in NL Holdem event.
Plano Pawn Shop was contacted and it was soon discovered that the bracelet had indeed been pawned off by Mr. Cloutier. He had failed to pick up the item on time, and the shop decided to auction the bracelet off to the highest bidder. In a separate auction, Plano Pawn Shop auctioned off Cloutier's 2007 Scotty Nguyen Poker Challenge bracelet.
The fate of the bracelet was hotly debated around the various online sites, including the popular poker chat board 2+2. Some thought that one of the higher name profile pros should buy the bracelet and return it. Others thought that this was pointless as if he pawned it off once, he will do so again.
Ultimately, the auction closed with a $4,006. The winner was revealed on Wednesday to be Cake Poker. The staff at Cake Poker purchased the bracelet and announced on Thursday that they would return the bracelet to Mr. Cloutier after they are "done having some fun with it."
A date for the return of the bracelet has not been set. Popular poker site Wicked Chops Poker contacted Clouter in regards to why he pawned the bracelet and he told them that he was short and had intended to pay the loan back, but arrived too late. There are many speculations as to why Cloutier needed the money. He is a known gambler, and loser, in craps, and some feel that the game may have left him needing money. Then again, he may just be on a bad run at the tables.
Regardless, Cake Poker claims that the bracelet will be returning home to Cloutier in the near future. As to whether it remains with him is anyone's guess.